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ELA 2019 G7:M1:U2:L4

Research

In this Lesson

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Focus Standards: These are the standards the instruction addresses.

  • RI.7.2, W.7.5, W.7.7, W.7.8

Supporting Standards: These are the standards that are incidental—no direct instruction in this lesson, but practice of these standards occurs as a result of addressing the focus standards.

  • RI.7.1, RI.7.4, RI.7.10, L.7.4, L.7.6
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Daily Learning Targets

  • I can research to answer questions about the Lost Children of Sudan. (W.7.7, W.7.8)
  • I can determine the central ideas in an informational text and analyze their development over the course of the text. (RI.7.2)
  • I can write an objective summary of an informational text. (RI.7.2)

Ongoing Assessment

  • Opening A: Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 4 (L.7.4d)
  • Work Time A: Research on the Lost Boys of Sudan note-catcher (student generated) (RI.7.1, W.7.7, W.7.8)
  • Work Time A: Summary of a source (RI.7.2)

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Engage the Learner - L.7.4d (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Mini Lessons: Continue Research - W.7.7 (15 minutes) 

B. Research - W.7.8 (15 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Whole-Group Summary Critique - W.7.5 (10 minutes)

4. Homework

A. Revise Summary: Using the lessons learned from the whole-group summary critique activity, students complete Homework: Revise Summary to revise their own summaries.

B. Preread Anchor Text: Students should preread chapter 14 of A Long Walk to Water in preparation for studying the chapter in the next lesson.

Alignment to Assessment Standards and Purpose of Lesson

  • Repeated routines occur in the following:
    • L.7.4d – Opening A: In the entrance ticket activity, students test themselves on the meanings of terms they learned previously.
    • Opening A: Students review learning targets.
  • New skills are introduced in the following:
    • W.7.7 – Work Time A: Students learn the steps in the research process, including gathering information by quoting or paraphrasing accurately and citing their sources.
    • W.7.8 – Work Time B: Students research to answer their questions about the Lost Children of Sudan, including refining their research questions, finding and evaluating sources, and gathering information by quoting or paraphrasing accurately and citing their sources.
    • RI.7.2 – Work Time B: Students write a summary of one of their sources, tracing the development of two or more central ideas over the course of the text.
    • W.7.5 – Closing and Assessment A: Students participate in a whole-class critique of one student’s summary to help that student and all students improve their summarizing and writing skills.
  • The Think-Pair-Share protocol is used in this lesson. Protocols are an important feature of our curriculum because they are one of the best ways we know to engage students in discussion, inquiry, critical thinking, and sophisticated communication. A protocol consists of agreed-upon, detailed guidelines for reading, recording, discussing, or reporting that ensure equal participation and accountability in learning.
  • If a whole-class critique will not work for the class at this time, use the Model Source Summary and work as a class to make the writing more concise.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

  • Students who have experience with any of the research steps should be authorized as experts on those steps and allowed to teach or mentor the class or individual students on the steps. Also, students who write an exemplary summary can be called upon to assist other students and to explain how they identified central ideas and traced them over the course of the text.

How It Builds on Previous Work

  • In the previous lesson, students learned or reviewed the steps for researching to answer a question and began researching briefly. In this lesson, students learn the information-gathering steps and have time to apply the steps and skills they were introduced to in the previous lesson.

Support All Students

  • In Work Times A and B, students may need additional support with each of the steps of the research process. Provide sentence frames and modeling to support students with refining research questions. Partner students with a student who is skilled at researching and note-taking for modeling and support.
  • Also, support students at varied reading levels by recommending databases for different reading levels (e.g., Newsela or Gale databases).
  • For summary writing in Work Time B, use a Think Aloud and the Criteria of an Effective Informative Summary anchor chart to model how to write a summary, recording notes on the board for students to use as they write their summaries. Optionally allow pairs of students to write a summary together.
  • Continue to monitor students to determine if there are issues surfacing as a result of the content of this lesson that need to be discussed as a whole group, in smaller groups, or individually.
  • Note there is a differentiated version of the Model Source Summary used in Closing and Assessment A in the supporting materials download. ▲

Assessment Guidance

  • Circulate to monitor students’ ability to refine their questions, evaluate sources, identify important information, and take notes (including quoting, paraphrasing, and citing sources). Also, collect students’ summaries in the following lesson to assess summarizing and writing abilities as well as their comprehension of the articles they are reading in their research.

Down the Road

  • In the next lesson, students will complete their Mid-Unit 2 Assessment in which they watch a video clip, identifying the main ideas and supporting details. Then in Part II of the assessment, students research online to answer a question from the Questions about A Long Walk to Water anchor chart.

In Advance

  • Be sure student writing can be projected for the whole-class critique in Closing and Assessment A.
  • Ensure there is a copy of Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 4 at each student's workspace.
  • Post the learning targets and applicable anchor charts (see Materials list).

Tech and Multimedia

  • Work Time A: Computers or tablets for each student to continue the research process
  • Closing and Assessment A: Document camera or projector to display student summary and Austin's Butterfly video on the EL Education website (http://eled.org/austins-butterfly) as necessary for peer critique modeling

Supporting English Language Learners

Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 7.I.B.6, 7.I.B.7, 7.I.B.8, 7.II.B.3-5, and 7.II.C.6-7.

Important Points in the Lesson Itself

  • To support ELLs, this lesson expands students' knowledge of the research process and introduces methods for paraphrasing and quoting. Learning how to paraphrase and quote benefits ELLs by enlarging their knowledge of how to navigate and use academic language to understand informational text.
  • ELLs new to reading in English may find it challenging to read the articles and websites that they locate through their research. Therefore, additional supports such as the ones listed below may be useful.

Vocabulary

  • analyze, central, development, objective, over the course (A)

Key

(A): Academic Vocabulary

(DS): Domain-Specific Vocabulary

Materials from Previous Lessons

Teacher

Student

  • Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 4, Opening A)
  • Academic word wall (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 1, Opening A)
  • Questions about A Long Walk to Water anchor chart (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 2, Work Time A)
  • Researchers Do These Things anchor chart (one for display; from Unit 2, Lesson 3, Work Time A)
  • Work to Become Ethical People anchor chart (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 2, Opening B)
  • Work to Become Ethical People anchor chart (example for teacher reference) (from Unit 1, Lesson 2, Opening B)
  • Criteria of an Effective Informative Summary anchor chart (one for display; from Unit 2, Lesson 1, Work Time A)
  • Vocabulary log (one per student; from Unit 1, Lesson 2, Opening A)
  • Choose and Use Credible Internet Sources (one per student; from Unit 2, Lesson 3, Work Time A)

New Materials

Teacher

Student

  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 4 (answers for teacher reference)
  • Model Research note-catcher (as needed) (one for display)
  • Model Source Summary (example for teacher reference) (optional; see Teaching Notes)
  • Document camera or projector
  • Austin's Butterfly video (optional; one for display)
  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 4 (one per student)
  • Online or print dictionaries (including ELL and home language dictionaries; one per small group of students)
  • Index cards (one per student)
  • Model Source Summary (optional; one per student and one for display)
  • Model Source Summary ▲
  • Device for internet research (one per student)
  • Homework: Revise Summary (one per student; see unit download)
  • Research note-catcher (one per student; student-generated)

Assessment

Each unit in the 6-8 Language Arts Curriculum has two standards-based assessments built in, one mid-unit assessment and one end of unit assessment. The module concludes with a performance task at the end of Unit 3 to synthesize students' understanding of what they accomplished through supported, standards-based writing.

Opening

Opening

A. Engage the Learner - L.7.4d (5 minutes)

  • Repeated routine: students respond to questions on Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 4.
  • Repeated routine: follow the same routine as with the previous lessons to review learning targets and the purpose of the lesson, reminding students of any learning targets that are similar or the same as in previous lessons.
  • At this time, students can Turn and Talk to share their responses on the entrance ticket. With students, use the vocabulary strategies on the Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart to review the words central (main or most important), analyze (separate into parts for close study; examine and explain), development (creation over a period of time), over the course (throughout, in the whole text), and objective (not influenced by personal feelings; factual) in the learning targets. Record on the academic word wall with translations in home languages, where appropriate, and invite students to record these words in their vocabulary logs.

Work Time

Work TimeLevels of Support

A. Mini Lessons: Continue Research – W.7.7 (15 minutes)

  • Inform students that they will continue the research mini lessons they began in the previous lesson. Release those students who are proficient in the research process to begin researching independently.
  • Gather Information: Make a Note-Catcher: Ask students to Turn and Talk about what kinds of information they need to gather in order to answer their research question. Record their responses on the Researchers Do These Things anchor chart. Explain that students will create their own note-catcher to record information. As a class, generate a list of the information that should be on the note-catcher (research question[s]; evidence and information quoted or paraphrased accurately; full source citation including hyperlink and date the class accessed the website; notes about the reliability and credibility of a source; and notes about questions the class has from reading the source). Model doing so as necessary, showing several different options for note-catchers including the Model Research note-catcher. Be sure students understand how and why the model note-catcher organizes information. Ask students to Turn and Talk:

“What should we record in this column? How does that information relate to the information in this column? Why doesn’t it make sense to add this information to this column?” (Possible response: We should record the name of the article, the author, the date published, the date accessed, and web address here. We should record the information from that source in the next column. The facts, details, and quotes from the source goes next to the source’s name, date, and website information.)

  • Gather Information: Paraphrase and Quote: Model skimming and scanning the first one or two paragraphs of the source for information. Remind students of their work to identify the main ideas and details of the video and the article in previous lessons. They can apply these skills to reading these new articles. Then model taking notes on the Model Research note-catcher, taking one note as a quote and one as a paraphrase. If necessary, repeat this process with the next few paragraphs, asking students to help paraphrase and quote. Then release students to repeat this process in pairs and then independently with the next paragraphs.
  • Gather Information: Cite Sources: Model using the citing sources format at the bottom of the Researchers Do These Things anchor chart to cite the model source. Instruct students on the necessity of citing sources for each of their quotes and paraphrases in order to avoid plagiarism, which is the use of someone else’s work without permission. Invite students to help find each item (author’s last and first name, article title, website, etc.). Optionally, make the finding of items like a game—the first to find the item shouts it out or runs up and points it out.
  • N/A

B. Research – W.7.8 (15 minutes)

  • Review the learning targets, all relevant to the work to be completed in this section of the lesson:

“I can research to answer questions about the Lost Children of Sudan.”

“I can determine the central ideas in an informational text and analyze their development over the course of the text.”

“I can write an objective summary of an informational text.”

  • Inform students that they will continue their research to answer their questions about an aspect of the Lost Boys of Sudan. Focus students on the anchor charts, and ask them to take out these materials from the previous lesson: Questions About A Long Walk to Water anchor chart, Researchers Do These Things anchor chart, and Choose and Use Credible Internet Sources handout. Before they start researching again, ask them to review their Research note-catcher to see which questions they have answered and which ones they have still to answer. Also, ask students to consider whether they need to refine any of their questions or find a new source or finish reading and taking notes on a source from the previous lesson. Allow students several minutes to review their notes, then have them Turn and Talk to share their plan for researching. Use a Thumb-O-Meter to assess who needs help researching. Depending on needs, pair students or draw them into a small group to assist them, using the suggestions for researching steps in the previous lesson. If many students need support, group them by steps in the research process (e.g., groups of students working together to refine their questions, take notes, and find and evaluate new sources). ▲
  • About ten minutes before the end of the research period, remind students that they will write a summary of one of the sources they have used in their research. Ask students to Think-Pair-Share the qualities of an effective summary, using the Criteria of an Effective Informative Summary anchor chart as necessary. During the sharing, confirm that summaries start by stating the text and the central ideas. Then the summary gives the main details as briefly as possible. Also, remind students they should be objective and not state opinions in their summary. Use a Thumb-O-Meter to assess who needs help summarizing. Depending on needs, pair students or draw them into a small group to assist them, using the Criteria of an Effective Informative Summary anchor chart as a step-by-step guide and then checklist for writing. Some students may also benefit from orally rehearsing their summary to themselves or a partner before writing. ▲
  • Circulate as students write summaries to identify one student who would benefit from and is willing to have his or her work assessed in the following activity of a whole-group critique.
  • Repeated routine: invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning targets.

For Lighter Support

  • During Work Time B, use a modified version of the research packet/bookmark strategy suggested in Heavier Support. Provide articles and/or bookmarked websites in students’ home languages and/or at an appropriate level of English for students new to reading English, but also encourage students to find other articles and/or sites with challenging English that they will need to grapple with and may only partially understand. Partial scaffolding such as this provides ELLs with accessible text at the same time that it ensures they are exposed to challenging text as well.

For Heavier Support

  • During Work Time B, provide “research packets” with appropriately leveled text and/or bookmarked research websites for students who are new to reading in English—in either English, or their home language, or a combination of both. Providing a select group of accessible sources for research in English and/or students’ home languages supports ELLs by ensuring that the sources they are using for their research include some texts and/or websites they are likely to be able to understand and learn from.

Closing & Assessments

ClosingLevels of Support

A. Whole-Group Summary Critique – W.7.5 (10 minutes)

  • Explain that the class will work together to review one of the student’s summaries (or the Model Source Summary and the Model Source Summary ▲ as necessary for students who need extra support. The differentiated model supports students’ understanding with color-coding and footnotes. ▲ Identify one or two problems that have been consistent in most students’ writing (e.g., students may be struggling to write concisely or identify the central ideas of a text). To support all students, write the problems on the board and reread them. Give general examples of the problems (not from the students’ writing yet). To increase engagement and investment, have students review their own summaries and determine which problem they think is most important to address. Then the class can vote on the most important problem(s) to address.
  • Focus students on the Work to Become Ethical People anchor chart, and remind them of the habit of character recorded: respect, as this is someone’s personal written work. If necessary, model and guide students to practice giving courteous and constructive feedback. Optionally show the Austin’s Butterfly video to model constructive feedback. Also, provide sentence frames on the board, read them aloud, and model using them: 

“I like how you _____, but I don’t understand _____. Can you _____? I like how you _____, but I think _____ needs revision because _____. Can you _____?” ▲

  • Focus the class on the first problem sentence, and use a Think Aloud to model explaining the problem and brainstorming ideas for fixing it (e.g., “There are lots of details in this summary. Let’s reread these sentences to see which we can cut.” Or “The summary doesn’t start with the central idea of the text. How do we find the central idea of a text?”). Invite volunteers to join in brainstorming ideas for fixing the problem. Then ask students to Think-Pair-Share about which solution they think is best for fixing the problem and why. Come to a consensus about which solution(s) to recommend to the writer. Make note of this on the displayed copy of the summary.
  • Focus the class on the next problem sentence, and have students work as a class to generate solutions for fixing the sentence. Continue this process, eventually releasing students to work independently or in pairs to identify the problem and generate solutions for it.
  • Incorporate reflection on and awareness of the following academic mindset: “I belong in this community.”
  • Ask students to Think-Pair-Share:

“How does respect help you feel a sense of belonging in this classroom community?” (Possible response: When my classmates listen to me, I feel like I have a safe place in this classroom.)

For Lighter Support

  • While brainstorming solutions to fixing problem sentences as a whole class, ask students to share their solutions with an elbow partner sitting next to them before asking them to share out their solutions with the whole class. This opportunity for one-on-one rehearsal of whole-class responses supports ELLs by providing them with the opportunity to practice their answers in a less challenging context before presenting them in a more challenging context, and thereby builds ELLs' confidence around participating in whole-class discussions.

For Heavier Support

  • Provide a list of "problems" with the problem sentence. Read the list aloud, and then ask students to contribute to the discussion with an example of or explanation of one of the problems on the list, which they see evidence for in the sentence. This supports ELLs by reducing some of the initial language demands entailed in articulating the problems, and focuses them more specifically on finding evidence for the problems.

Homework

Homework

A. Revise Summary 

  • Using the lessons learned from the whole-group summary critique activity, students complete Homework: Revise Summary to revise their own summaries.

B. Preread Anchor Text

  • Students should preread chapter 14 of A Long Walk to Water in preparation for studying the chapter in the next lesson.

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